Covid-19: Only Five Percent of Rio’s Population Was Tested by Public Health System

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rio de Janeiro is currently home to some 17.2 million people. Of this total, only 860,000 – five percent – have been tested for the coronavirus by the State Government.

According to the State Health Secretariat (SES), the public network has run 813,560 tests in total. Of these, 736,960 were rapid tests and only 76,600 were PCR tests, considered by specialists to be the most effective in determining the presence of Coronavirus at the time of testing.

Of the total number of tests conducted by the Rio de Janeiro Government, 586,960 testing kits were distributed by the Ministry of Health. In other words, excluding federal aid, the state bought only 226,600 tests with its own resources.

In early April, Edmar Santos, then Rio de Janeiro’s Secretary of Health, had announced that the state had purchased 1.2 million rapid test kits. However, the current number of tests conducted does not match the former Secretary’s announcement, and he is currently under arrest due to suspected irregularities committed during his administration.

According to experts, the best strategy to monitor the development of the disease and to recommend the best approach to relaxing the restrictive measures, is to test the population en masse.

“The more we test, the better the assessment will be, the more information we will have, so that we may be able to identify patients as soon as possible and isolate those who are infected. In this context of relaxation, it is crucial to increase the number of tests,” said Gustavo Campana, medical director of the Dasa Group.

According to Helio Magarinos Torres Filho, medical director of the Richet Laboratory, the most efficient tests to determine whether or not Coronavirus is present, if purchased in large quantities, are not so costly. He also said there was a need for a better organization by officials for a broader testing strategy.

“The issue here was probably a lack of organization. Only five months after the outbreak of the virus did the laboratories (on the public system) manage to run a larger number of tests,” said Helio.

By way of comparison, the German government managed to test approximately 500,000 people in the peak months of the disease. Considering the size of a country like Germany, compared to a state, one can note that different strategies for mass population testing have been implemented.